Microbloggers Pressure Beijing to Improve Air Pollution Monitoring

Heavy smog continued to plague central Beijing, on November 1, 2011, as mist and lack of wind trapped hazardously high levels of particulate matter.

Sina Weibo

A screenshot taken the night of November 7, 2011 shows the results of a poll on China’s air pollution measurement system posted to microblogging site Sina Weibo by real estate mogul Pan Shiyi. Of the more than 38,000 who had voted by Tuesday evening, 92% said the country should introduce a more sensitive standard used by the U.S. embassy in Beijing by the end of the year while 6% said the new standard should be put in place by next year. Only 2% said they didn’t think a stricter standard was necessary.

Tens of thousands of people, including several Chinese celebrities, have used an unofficial online vote to press the government to measure air pollution more accurately, in a graphic illustration of how the Internet–and especially Twitter-like microblogging–is challenging Beijing’s control of information.

Pan Shiyi, one of China’s best-known property developers, launched the vote on Sunday through his Sina Weibo microblog — a hugely popular service owned by Sina Corp. on which he alone has more than 7.4 million followers – following a series of days when the Chinese capital was shrouded in choking smog.

By Tuesday evening, with five days to go until votes are due to be counted, more than 38,000 votes were cast, with 98% agreeing that the country should introduce a more-sensitive standard used by the U.S. government and its embassy in Beijing, according to Mr. Pan’s microblog.

“If they know how serious the problem is, then people can consciously prevent air pollution, and change their unhealthy lifestyles and habits,” Mr. Pan said in his appeal for the vote, the results of which he said he would send to China’s environment minister.

Among the celebrities who have joined in are Kai-fu Lee, the former head of Google Inc. in China, who has more than nine million followers on his microblog, and Hong Huang, a publisher, author, blogger and actress who has more than three million on hers.

Authorities in Beijing, and most Chinese cities, measure air pollution by counting only particles between 2.5 and 10 micrometers in diameter. The U.S. embassy in Beijing counts ones of 2.5 micrometers and below, which experts say make up the most of the city’s air pollution and cause more damage to the lungs.

The embassy broadcasts its readings via an iPhone app and through Twitter, which is blocked inside China but can be accessed by tech-savvy Chinese who use virtual private networks or other technology to circumvent the country’s Web censorship system, known as the Great Firewall.

As a result, many Beijingers are becoming increasingly aware that the embassy’s readings often contradict those from Beijing’s environmental bureau: On Oct. 30, for example, the embassy rated Beijing’s air “hazardous,” while the bureau said it was “slight.”

The issue has been a point of contention between Beijing and Washington. A U.S. diplomatic cable published by WikiLeaks this year revealed that China’s Foreign Ministry asked the embassy in 2009 to stop tweeting its readings, accusing it of confusing Chinese people and undermining the environmental bureau’s authority. The embassy refused, according to the cable.

Mr. Pan’s unauthorized vote demonstrates how the Communist Party’s traditional stranglehold on information — long maintained through the state-run media — is being persistently undermined by the Internet, especially microblogs. Sina’s Weibo, which barely existed two years ago, now boasts more than 200 million registered users.

It also highlights the extent of public anger with the government over issues which directly affect quality of life, such as air pollution, food quality, and transport safety — all hot topics among microblog users.

A survey published last week by Bank of China Ltd. and wealth researcher Hurun Report showed that more than half of Chinese millionaires were considering emigrating, or had taken steps to do so, with pollution in China ranking among their main motivations.

New public-health studies and laboratory experiments suggest that, at every stage of life, traffic fumes – which account for much of Beijing’s air pollution — exact a measurable toll on mental capacity, intelligence and emotional stability.

But in an interview published in the Beijing Times newspaper on Friday, Du Shaozhong, a spokesman for the bureau, questioned the embassy’s readings, saying: “I’m not clear about their monitoring tools and methods, and how they ensure accuracy.”

Mr. Du, whose Sina microblog has 79,000 followers, appeared to be responding to an outpouring of anger last week from online Chinese, many of whom demanded to know when the bureau intended to adopt the more sensitive standard.

The Bureau has said it plans to improve the way it measures air quality, and is capable of monitoring the smaller particles, but hasn’t set a timetable for the more sensitive readings to be published.

This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. Distribution and use of this material are governed by our Subscriber Agreement and by copyright law. For non-personal use or to order multiple copies, please contact Dow Jones Reprints at 1-800-843-0008 or visit www.djreprints.com.